Better Gardening 18 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

Better Gardening

Chapter 18

-VB-

“So?” Daniel asked her. 

Mana didn’t reply as she looked over the biometric data, ranging from multiple pictures of the same individual “pidgey” to exotic energy readings being outputed by an obvious bird with the intelligence of a ten year old, at minimum, listening to verbal orders.

Of course, this test was only possible because this particular pidgey was the calmest and most cooperative of the hundred plus pidgeys that Daniel caught. 

Thankfully, with that many individuals, she didn’t foresee any inbreeding problem cropping up. However, she saw a whole different problem in the future if Daniel decided to release these creatures unmodified. 

These pidgeys were the “weakest” of its “evolution line,” and the books that they received from the locals of this world of “pokemon” stated the pidgeys were ecological equivalent of the rock pigeon in how widespread and numerous they were. Except this pigeon could and would move faster than sound, hit harder than a bullet, and evolve into different forms that could “cause a windstorm with a few flaps of its wings.” 

Honestly, she was against colonizing any of these pokemons onto NLS-9’s world without significant genetic modification. Even then, she wouldn’t let them colonize until she’s had at least a dozen generations to observe them for any particularly large reservoirs of the exotic energies all pokemon seem to be able to use. 

“Well?” Daniel asked her. 

“As far as the biometrics are concerned,” she began. “None of the individuals that you caught seem to be in a particularly bad shape.”

“That’s great!” he grinned. Then he paused. “You said particularly.”

“Yes. All of their weights are in line with what the Kantonian textbook says. However, the average “trainer” pidgey has a weight of 1.9 to 2.0 kilograms. The average for the pidgeys that you’ve caught are all 1.6 and below, which is 0.2 kilograms lower than the stated average. They could be slightly malnourished.”

Daniel looked a little downtrodden at that. “I guess I managed to catch so many because they were all weak?”

“Yes. 0.2 kilograms for a species that has 1.8 kilograms on average is like a regular adult man in his thirties weighing in only 70 kilograms or less when the lower end of average healthy weight for men at 175 to 180 cm would be 72 kilograms.”

“We should be able to help them, though, yes?”

“Yes. But before we do, we should discuss modifying them.”

“... How so?”

Good. He wasn’t dismissing her out of hand.

“They are too powerful for most animals out there, especially the end form of their transforming line.”

“Wasn’t it evolution line?”

“Evolution does not work in the span of months. I refuse to call it that.”

He snorted. “If that’s what you want, then alright. Still, too powerful, huh?”

“Yes. This is also true for the rat-like rattatas. The most ‘normal’ of the three specie you caught are the Catapies, but their “middle” stage is hard as rocks and their “last” stage can cause a number of ecological disasters on their own. These ‘butterfrees’ won’t be as powerful as the ‘pidgeots’ according to the books, but that doesn’t mean they won’t overpower any other species that do not have access to exotic energies of their own.”

“Really? Won’t adding species that can do the same be better instead?”

She shook her head on the screen directly facing her administrator. “These pokemon are unnaturally sympathetic to humans. Other animals that are on par with them will not be as friendly to humans.”

“... Why would that matter?” he asked as he shifted to face her completely from whatever he had been doing. 

“Excuse me?”

“Why does it matter?” he asked her. “We’re building a garden world, right? It’s not a colony for humans.”

She looked at him in surprise.

Perhaps … yes. She was the artificial intelligence of the NLS-9 station. She should have been the more objective one of the pair. However, because he had even less memory than she did, he ended up becoming even more objective than she did because he didn’t make assumptions like she did. She had assumed that the garden world preparation was for future colonies. It was very likely that this was exactly what was going to happen. However, there wasn’t any requirements in both her and the administrator’s roles to prepare the global biosphere for human habitation. 

“... You are correct, administrator. Thank you.”

“Sure? What are you thanking me for?”

“Reminding me why you are the administrator and I am the A.I.”

“... Wait, did I insult you? Was that thanks a sarcasm?”

She snorted. A biological action that she did occasionally despite the fact that she didn’t have to. She did it because … it was what people did to express themselves, including A.I.s like herself. 

“No. It is an honest thanks. You showed me just now that even I have biases and opinions that shape my thought processes much like you and any other living beings. I am not as objective as I thought myself to be. It is not unpleasant, merely a reminder that I had needed.”

He looked at her quizzically. “If you say so.”

“But it is definitely my opinion that you do not good with your stubble. It makes you look scruffy, unkept, and dirty. You should shave before you go on your second expedition to the pokemon world.” 

“Ugh!”